We were thrilled to host Stephanie Blair from Senator Tillis' office for a tour of our Durham Manufacturing facility. It was a fantastic opportunity to showcase the impactful work we do at LCI and to share insights about the AbilityOne Program. We also discussed our current goal of achieving 1% utilization with the Department of Defense. Thank you, Stephanie, for taking the time to learn more about our mission and initiatives!
#AbilityOne#LCI#SenatorTillis
Care about interoperability in the defense market?
Curious about DAPRA?
Want to learn about an extraordinary coalition building effort?
Check out this conversation with David Gerson of Apogee Research, LLC - now live!
How do we protect innovation from the top down?
Enter my convo with Jon Gruen, CEO of Fortem Technologies and former Navy SEAL, on his journey in the defense startup world and what it takes to push past the bureaucracy that stops so many from succeeding in this space.
We talk about:
👉 Jon’s journey from SEAL to CEO and how to push past imposter syndrome
👉 Why it’s not enough to just have innovation programs - you need an educated contracting community as well
👉 The evolution of counter-UAS capabilities in the DoD
And most importantly, does he dip his grilled cheese in hot chocolate? 🧀 Tune in for the fun!
Listen here: https://lnkd.in/epQC89MY
Yesterday, Erica Barhorst-Cates, PhD presented "Analyzing Variability in Decision Making in Complex Systems" to the DoD HFE TAG. With one more day to go at the Huntsville event, she and Benjamin Schwartz would be excited to sit down with you to discuss the research and how Monterey Technologies, Inc. can help defense programs achieve #decisionadvantage!
Connecting Innovators in Academia and Industry with the Department of Defense |
Regional Engagement Principal @ NSIN | West Virginia | Community Leader | Veteran
If you're interested in #Defense#Innovation, then be sure to check out this meeting from 7/17/2024.
Two new studies have been announced that are discussed during this recording. I'll share the reports through my network once they become available:
- Optimizing How We Innovate with Our Allies and Partners
- Aligning Incentives to Drive Faster Tech Adoption
#Startups#Opportunity
Supporting the Warfighter: Strategy, Policy & Technology Advisor and Board Member - Defense Industrial Base/Supply Chains, Missiles/Munitions, Microelectronics, Critical Chemicals; Former DoD Senior Executive
I had a great discussion with Mike Benitez and Jake Chapman on the National Defense Industrial Strategy and all things Defense Industrial Base. Check it out on The Merge. https://lnkd.in/e2aCr_4D#mmrdefense#dib
Fixing the Defense Industry
The Pentagon recently released the much-anticipated 2023 National Defense Industrial Strategy (NDIS). Ok, so only geeks like us were waiting with anticipation.
Note to Pentagon: WTH did you throw the ‘2023’ label on it and release it in 2024?
Anyway, we dug through the 60-page document so you don’t have to. The plan has 4 strategic priorities:
- Resilient supply chains that can securely produce the products, services, and technologies needed now and in the future at speed, scale, and cost.
- Workforce readiness to provide for a sufficiently skilled, and staffed workforce that is diverse and representative of America.
- Flexible acquisition that result in reduced development times, reduced costs, and increased scalability.
- Economic deterrence to deter…using economics?
We admit, the last one is a bit wonky. We also admit we’re no experts in this realm. So…we found someone who is.
Dr. Chris Michienzi was the CTO in the Pentagon’s Industrial Base Policy office and has first-hand experience (and scar tissue) about the withered US defense industry and efforts (past, present, and future) to restore it to what America needs. OBTW, she also led the effort to surge US munitions production for Ukraine after Russia’s 2022 invasion.
You can read her recent op-ed here https://lnkd.in/epc6rcf4, but ultimately everything you’re reading here is a long windup for a soft pitch: listen to our latest podcast where we chat with Chris to break down this new strategy and discuss some of the monumental hurdles that need to be overcome to make this a reality.
As hard as you might think restoring the defense industrial base is—listen to the interview, and you’ll realize it’s 100X more difficult than you thought.
Finish Strong Friday!
Finishing up Friday after an extraordinarily strong week at ZeroEyes - here is Samuel Mohebban, our Senior Director of Research and Development, supporting the nation's finest on a United States Department of Defense project last week.
ZE Government Solutions, our defense-focused subsidiary, embodies the mantra "Execution is everything".
It turns out that in this industry, execution is indeed the only thing that matters.
hashtag
#weaponsdetection hashtag
#publicsafety hashtag
#artificialintelligence hashtag
#defensetech
We need new language:
❌ Fixing
❌ Winning Mindset
✔️ Unlocking
✔️ Infinite Mindset
Create culture over Write strategy. Enable environments over Fix People. Communicate Intent and Outcome over Giving orders and Making decisions.
Supporting the Warfighter: Strategy, Policy & Technology Advisor and Board Member - Defense Industrial Base/Supply Chains, Missiles/Munitions, Microelectronics, Critical Chemicals; Former DoD Senior Executive
I had a great discussion with Mike Benitez and Jake Chapman on the National Defense Industrial Strategy and all things Defense Industrial Base. Check it out on The Merge. https://lnkd.in/e2aCr_4D#mmrdefense#dib
Fixing the Defense Industry
The Pentagon recently released the much-anticipated 2023 National Defense Industrial Strategy (NDIS). Ok, so only geeks like us were waiting with anticipation.
Note to Pentagon: WTH did you throw the ‘2023’ label on it and release it in 2024?
Anyway, we dug through the 60-page document so you don’t have to. The plan has 4 strategic priorities:
- Resilient supply chains that can securely produce the products, services, and technologies needed now and in the future at speed, scale, and cost.
- Workforce readiness to provide for a sufficiently skilled, and staffed workforce that is diverse and representative of America.
- Flexible acquisition that result in reduced development times, reduced costs, and increased scalability.
- Economic deterrence to deter…using economics?
We admit, the last one is a bit wonky. We also admit we’re no experts in this realm. So…we found someone who is.
Dr. Chris Michienzi was the CTO in the Pentagon’s Industrial Base Policy office and has first-hand experience (and scar tissue) about the withered US defense industry and efforts (past, present, and future) to restore it to what America needs. OBTW, she also led the effort to surge US munitions production for Ukraine after Russia’s 2022 invasion.
You can read her recent op-ed here https://lnkd.in/epc6rcf4, but ultimately everything you’re reading here is a long windup for a soft pitch: listen to our latest podcast where we chat with Chris to break down this new strategy and discuss some of the monumental hurdles that need to be overcome to make this a reality.
As hard as you might think restoring the defense industrial base is—listen to the interview, and you’ll realize it’s 100X more difficult than you thought.
Our latest The Merge podcast is a deep dive into the recent National Defense Industrial Strategy. Thanks to Christine (Chris) Michienzi who joined us to discuss. Chris was the last CTO for the office responsible for crafting the strategy.
Winning the next fight requires 2 things (1) building new capabilities AND (2) fielding capabilities at scale. #2 is something we are struggling with today as our defense industrial base (and industrial base in general) has largely atrophied in the last 30 years.
This strategy is supposed to be the foundational document that describes how we get to where we need to be.
One complaint I have that we didn't get to in the episode is that the strategy, while comprehensive, does not discuss costs or tradeoffs at all. The effort required might cost trillions and will require ruthless prioritization. The strategy as it exists today doesn't wrestle with this challenge at all.
Take a listen and let us know what you think.
Supporting the Warfighter: Strategy, Policy & Technology Advisor and Board Member - Defense Industrial Base/Supply Chains, Missiles/Munitions, Microelectronics, Critical Chemicals; Former DoD Senior Executive
I had a great discussion with Mike Benitez and Jake Chapman on the National Defense Industrial Strategy and all things Defense Industrial Base. Check it out on The Merge. https://lnkd.in/e2aCr_4D#mmrdefense#dib
Fixing the Defense Industry
The Pentagon recently released the much-anticipated 2023 National Defense Industrial Strategy (NDIS). Ok, so only geeks like us were waiting with anticipation.
Note to Pentagon: WTH did you throw the ‘2023’ label on it and release it in 2024?
Anyway, we dug through the 60-page document so you don’t have to. The plan has 4 strategic priorities:
- Resilient supply chains that can securely produce the products, services, and technologies needed now and in the future at speed, scale, and cost.
- Workforce readiness to provide for a sufficiently skilled, and staffed workforce that is diverse and representative of America.
- Flexible acquisition that result in reduced development times, reduced costs, and increased scalability.
- Economic deterrence to deter…using economics?
We admit, the last one is a bit wonky. We also admit we’re no experts in this realm. So…we found someone who is.
Dr. Chris Michienzi was the CTO in the Pentagon’s Industrial Base Policy office and has first-hand experience (and scar tissue) about the withered US defense industry and efforts (past, present, and future) to restore it to what America needs. OBTW, she also led the effort to surge US munitions production for Ukraine after Russia’s 2022 invasion.
You can read her recent op-ed here https://lnkd.in/epc6rcf4, but ultimately everything you’re reading here is a long windup for a soft pitch: listen to our latest podcast where we chat with Chris to break down this new strategy and discuss some of the monumental hurdles that need to be overcome to make this a reality.
As hard as you might think restoring the defense industrial base is—listen to the interview, and you’ll realize it’s 100X more difficult than you thought.
Over the course of five days, World Defense Show posted a record number of significant deals and agreements, underscoring its role as a pivotal platform for collaboration and investment in the industry.
Be part of the third edition in 2026: worlddefenseshow.com#WDS2026
The need to balance innovation and production is a major challenge for the defense industry. CEO Joe Laurienti talked to the Hudson Institute about how we can do both -- watch the full episode here: https://brnw.ch/21wGc6P
Business Recruitment Manager at EDPNC
4moThank you for hosting me on behalf of Senator Tillis. The work that you all do is amazing! I enjoyed learning more about your footprint.